My Personal Peeves as an Editor, Part One

In my career as a freelance editor, I have edited over three hundred books. This does not include any editing performed in my former career as a legal assistant, or as the manager of a speaker’s bureau back in the days of pre-networked computers and printers where I had to type something, save it to a floppy disk, take it to a different computer to print, and God help me if there was a typo. With all those words read, dissected, and edited, I have honed my craft. I have also identified the things that annoy me most in someone’s writing. At this point, I’ve pretty much seen it all. With that said, I give you this list, Part One of my most annoying personal peeves as an editor.

As if/As though*: As if writing a book isn’t hard enough, don’t write as though you don’t know what you’re doing; it makes you sound as if you’re trying too hard.

These DO have their place, and are a legitimate device. Don’t overdo it, though.

Began: As I began to write this, I began to think about the words that annoyed me the most. As I began contemplating these words, I began to get annoyed all over again, and as I began to grind my teeth, the irony hit me hard.

Before: I woke up this morning before I had my first cup of coffee, and sat down to write this before I began to think about the editing issues that annoy me most. Before I chose the ones I would include in this Part One editing peeves paper, I began to suspect that I sounded like Judgy McJudgerson before I toned it down a little.

But: Y’all writer’s like big “buts” and you cannot lie.

Nod/shake/smile/sigh: Which includes: nodded, nods, nodding, shook, shakes, shaking, smiled, smiles, smiling, sighed, sighing. Oy…some of you? It’s like your characters have palsy with all the nodding and sighing and smiling and shaking of heads:

“He sighed and nodded, shaking his head at the irony with a smile.”

“He smiled, nodding his agreement with a heavy sigh, then shook his head.”

“She shook her head. After nodding her agreement, she said with a smile, ‘I am so tired,’ she sighed.”

Just: Just open your WIP right this very second and just delete just about any “just” you find. I believe you’ll discover the word usually is just not necessary.

Oh…and this:

Seem: It seems that writers who use the word seem a lot seem to be unsure what they are seemingly trying to say. It can bog down your writing and make it seem like it’s seemingly pretty abstract.

Very: See above re “just”. Same principles. Very often when “very” is used, it’s a word used to fill a very small space, and very frequently is just not very necessary at all.

Felicia will return soon with more of “My Personal Peeves as an Editor”

Felicia A. Sullivan is a popular indie editor, who has edited over three hundred books in various genres. Don’t let her book list scare you. Though there are quite a few books with “Dead” in the title, containing zombies, vampires and various other monsters, she is perfectly at ease editing your romance, sci-fi, fantasy, or any genre, including non-fiction!

About Felicia A. Sullivan

Felicia A. Sullivan is a popular indie editor, who has edited over three hundred books in various genres. Don’t let her book list scare you. Though there are quite a few books with “Dead” in the title, containing zombies, vampires and various other monsters, she is perfectly at ease editing your romance, sci-fi, fantasy, or any genre, including non-fiction!You can visit her website here: http://indie-editor.webs.com/.View a partial list of books she has edited here: http://indie-editor.webs.com/booksihaveedited.htm.You can find her on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/indieeditor.

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1 Comment

Thank you for the wake up call. I am hanging my head in shame and plan to run a find replace for most of the above, though seemingly there are exceptions to every rule, but honestly, there may be a time when it seems like these annoying words for the Character’s voice for internal monologues. Nod once if you agree!!